Do you know the difference between a parish council and a borough council?

I’d be the first to recognise that although I’m the leader of your Borough Council and therefore interested in such things, it’s not a question that would grab most people.

Even so, it’s very important in the light of a public consultation we launched on Tuesday last week.

You should, over the coming weeks, receive an eight-page leaflet through your door, which asks for your views on proposals to create four new parishes in Swindon, and on possible changes to existing parish council boundaries.

We’re consulting about this because we wish to devolve power and responsibility to neighbourhood level and extend localism to those parts of the town that do not presently benefit from their own parish councils.

Parish councils already provide many residents of Swindon with services of real community benefit, which may include allotments, leisure facilities, waste bin emptying, parks and open spaces, and grounds maintenance.

At the moment, 41 per cent of Swindon households are within one of these 16 areas with parishes, 15 of which have parish councils. We know that residents there value the work of their parish council, because they can be more responsive to particular local needs, and prioritise services in line with the views of the local community. In return, residents pay a precept, or charge, on their council tax bill, in much the same way as everyone pays a precept for fire and police services.

In future, the borough council will no longer be able to fund some local services such as grass cutting and street cleaning, because we’re spending an increasing proportion of our money helping a growing number of vulnerable children and adults.

Instead, existing parish councils, and any new ones created, will need to decide with their local communities how those services we can’t fund in future are provided.

Please read the leaflet when you get it, and let us know your views. We’ve also got additional information on our website if you need it at www.swindon.gov.uk/parishes and if you want to meet anyone face to face to talk about it, we’ve got five public meetings coming up in September in various locations around the borough, open to everyone regardless of where they live.

We’ve also got drop-in sessions at four libraries.

It is no exaggeration to say that what we are proposing could make a real difference to you and the area in which you live, and it has the potential to be very positive. We have to find new ways to deliver the services that you value in the light of the changes that local government is having to make, and this proposal is about that and nothing else.